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By Nate, April 7, 2009 6:34 am

Thanks to the seniors and of course Coach Izzo. We’ll miss you four guys but you gave us a helluva run. The core returns and the sky is the limit for next season – the road to Indy begins today.

It’s tough to be so close and not get it all. But UNC is/was a gifted team – oh, well – that’s the past now. Kalin, Durrell, Korie, Draymond, Delvon, Chris, Tom, Derrick, Gerrick and of course Raymar are the future.

A great season – two banners – and a memorable Final Four experience. All in all not too shabby, not perfect but not too shabby.

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By Nate, March 30, 2009 5:44 am

You have the right to remain silent, everything you say will be held against you in a court of Dunk Police

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By Nate, March 29, 2009 9:40 pm

We’ll be in the Motor D to see the Spartans!

G was the man, Kalin and T-walt handled the press with ease, Durrell was the spark-plug, Chris Allen was hustle and heart, Korie had ice-water in his veins and Day-Day was a force inside. A total team effort, including a dunk for the DUNK POLICE! (Just wait for Ray and Del to heat up, it could be special)  And of course, some lockdown Man to Man! and a plus 8 rebounding margin. 

And once again – Tom Izzo is the greatest human being to ever live – he makes Ghandi look like a child pornographer.

It’s going to be a fun week

And let me add a special recognition to my all-time favorite double Spartan – the love of my life, my wife Anna – those silly UCLA girls are schlepps compared to her.

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By Nate, March 28, 2009 7:04 pm

Well, not to toot my own horn (that’s what she said), but I was 8 for 8 in my Sweet 16 predictions. So, by popular demand I will now share my Elite 8 predictions just in time for all my faithful readers to call their bookies (of course, you’ll only be betting potato chips as I would never condone illegal activity).

Without further ado: I like the way Mizzou is playing and I think the pressing style could negate Theebet’s effectiveness but UConn’s guards are no slouches. All that being said, I just have a hunch about this Mizzou team, I’ve liked them all season and I’ll stick with them for an upset.

The Big East is assured of at least one Final Four team due to the Nova – Pitt Elite 8 clash tonight. Blair is the kind of player that I love and Levance Fields is just a winner (and Sam Young is a great scorer). But Nova is playing some great ball right now and Nova won at home in the only match-up b/w these teams this year. I just think Pitt will get it done, Blair and Fields are going to will Pitt to the Motor D.

It is my sincere hope that Blake Griffin treats that jittering fool Hansbourgh that a red-headed step-child. It will be a good game but in the end I think Lawson is just better than Oklahoma’s goofy #20 and that will be the difference. Roy “Shucks Howdy” Williams and his insurance salesman sports-coat will once again show you don’t have to know much about hoop to coach a team with a bunch of talent to the Final Four.

Now, for MSU v Louisville. I don’t have much in-depth analysis, just a lot of nerves and anticipation. Raymar broke his nose last night, here’s hoping he can channel the spirit of Matt Trannon in the face-mask and play like a man on a mission (and share some of that sugar with Del Roe). I just have a hunch – maybe call it a hope – but I think MSU finds a way, my god please make it so.

So, in case you’re keeping track at home that’s a Final Four of MSU v. Mizzou and Pitt v. UNC.

And just for the record: Tom Izzo is going no where and I have no idea what was up with Gus Johnson last night but Tom Izzo is appreciated more in East Lansing than the Pope is in Rome (although if you only read the Detroit newspapers or watch Don Shane and that clown Smilovitz I could see how you might be confused). But make no mistake, TI will get whatever he wants in EL and is treated like a king – I firmly believe his current coaching job will be his last.

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By Nate, March 26, 2009 10:14 pm

Item! Spring is finally here, the birds are singing and the flowers blooming, oh wait that’s just the fumes my neighbor’s meth lab.

Item! I guess they’ve been playing the NIT and all these other tournaments (CBI, CIPT) all along, man it sure would be great if they put those games on TV, wait you say they have, well then why haven’t I been watching, oh that’s right – no one cares.

Item! I don’t have any long-winded self-indulgent letters to issue to entire cities but I will only add this about our recent experiences in Philadelphia: “Well, it didn’t look like a two-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly.”

Item! I don’t have much hope for Purdue tonight against UConn. The Boilers’ only hope is that all the distractions facing UConn will take them off their games and they can sneak an upset. Otherwise, it’ll be a long night for the kids from West Laffy. Also, does anyone think the NCAA will really come down hard on UConn after the reports from Yahoo.com Sports? I’m still waiting for USC football to get the death penalty after my man Dan Wetzel’s expose on Reggie Bush’s cash money allstar experience with the men from Troy.

Item! Even if you’re very thirsty it’s never a good idea to try and take a drink from a power washer hose.

Item! In the other Sweet 16 games tonight, I look for Pitt over the X (but close); Nova over Duke (hey did you know that Corey Fisher, or Fish as my boy from Nova likes to call him, is the D’Angelo Barksdale of D-1 hoops? ESPN.com has a story all about it). And my upset special look for Mizzou over Memphis tonight.

Item! For my money it doesn’t get much better than the UCLA Dance Team – Hello girls!

Item! It looks like Anthony Grant the coach of VCU is headed to Alabama, nice pick up by the Tide. But I’m sure that Coach Grant will miss the enthusiasm of VCU’s Pep Band and it’s Fearless leader.

VCU Pep Band Leader

Item! I think MSU will beat KU tomorrow – just a hunch but I think the Spartans are ready to play and send a message. I like the Suton on Aldrich, Walton on Collins, Morgan on Morris (x2), and Kalin on Morningstar or Taylor or Reed match-ups for State. Roe and Green will be key in how they respond to Aldrich and either of the Morrises when they’re on the floor. The match-up that concerns me for State is Mario Little, once again the play of either Summers or Allen will be key. MSU is exponentially better when one of these two is scoring – if both are, good night nurse, get the tickets for the D.

Item! The irony is too rich to ignore that Nick Cage is in a movie titled “Knowing.”

Item! In Friday’s other Sweet 16 games I look for the ‘Ville over ‘Zona, UNC over the Zags and Oklahoma over Syracuse. In case you’re keeping track at home that’s an Elite 8 of UNC v Oklahoma, Pitt v. Nova, UConn v. Mizzu & Louisville v. MSU

Item! And finally a fond farewell to Billy Gillespie – we only knew thee but for a moment in a time.

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By Nate, March 15, 2009 5:46 pm

Okay – who cares about this now – not me and I keep telling myself I never really cared about it anyway. I guess the Spartans (G, Ray, Del and D I’m looking at you) never really did anyway either. (And I’m really just posting this to get that ridiculous picture that Jimmy decided to plaster all over off the top of the site.) Oh well, the regular season is what counts, right? Right.

It does save us from constant blathering on ESPN about 1 seeds and other nonsense. Lunardi still has MSU in the 6th spot on his S-curve with the 2 in the Midwest – I’ll take that. Now for the game no-one cares about…

Ohio State (5) v. Purdue (3):

Without a doubt these two teams have played the best offensive basketball in Indy this weekend. Evan Turner is pretty damn good – It’ll be interesting to see if he heads off to the Association this off season – but so too are Buford and Mullens. Hummel and the Purdue offense is clicking. I think Purdue will outlast OSU and has the defensive advantage. So, I’ll go with Purdue on paper but OSU is playing like a team on a mission. I just think Purdue has the edge in terms of depth and defense.

Pick: PURDUE

BTW, here’s hoping we get some more EdTV today – Ed loves watching Ed watching Ed watching Ed watching Ed…. it’s Ed to infinity! I mean the man loves attention.

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By Nate, March 14, 2009 5:53 pm

It didn’t take long for Eddie to go to the monitor – Ed loves watching Ed

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By Nate, March 14, 2009 4:04 pm

Ohio State (5) v. Michigan State (1):

OSU seems to have saved it’s Big Dance dreams with the win over Wisconsin yesterday (developments in the A-10, Big 12 & MWC Tourneys have made the bubble teams start to sweat – In the Big Ten PSU, Minny, um & Wisconsin will have a nervous Sunday) – MSU just outlasted Minny, as I posted yesterday it wasn’t pretty but in March you win and don’t worry about style points – despite what the yutzs in the ESPN studio may say about seeding – but I’ll talk more about seeding in tomorrow’s preview when we have most of the conference tournaments final results in hand – for now let’s all agree that Jimmy’s hero Digger Phelps is just a giant homer douche and move on.

Today’s game should be another slugfest, it won’t be pretty both teams like to bang and scrap but if you like Big Ten hoops it will be a great game. Evan Turner meet Travis Walton – on the defensive side that’s the key match-up for MSU. For MSU to win Suton and Raymar need to have better games – G had his way with the young Mullens in MSU’s prior to victories and that will need to continue. Raymar usually plays well against his home state’s team so I expect his performance will improve. Roe and Lauderdale should be a good match-up (and Day-Day Green and Quise and the Dunk Police when they’re subbed in). If Mullens is playing well against G don’t be surprised to see ID – Idunk Iblock – get some minutes. Diebler will challenge MSU’s tough perimeter defense and I have no doubt he’ll get some good looks today. The last time these teams played Durrell Summers went off – here’s to hoping he can do it again.

It will be a battle but I think MSU is set for a March roll and they will outlast the Buckeyes and move onto Sunday (then we can let the seeding talk commence).

Pick: MICHIGAN STATE

Purdue (3) v. Illinois (2):

Both of these teams played well last night – but both will face tougher competition in each other today. Purdue had a bit of an offensive re-awakening last night and Illinois ground Michigan into the floor. Illinois is historically the toughest out in the BTT and they seem to be upholding that tradition without Chester Frazier’s services – it will be interesting to see how his absence plays out today. For Illinois Mike Davis is again the key and Hummel is the spark plug for Purdue. The match-up to watch will be Johnson versus Tisdale in the low post, two very skilled young big men playing against each with a trip to BTT Finals on the line – who could ask for anything more? In the end I give the edge to Purdue due to Frazier’s absence but the Illini swept the season series so it’s hard to get really excited about that pick. Should be a good defensive Big Ten battle – if ESPN doesn’t like that they can eat my shorts.

Pick: PURDUE